Cleaning Lewis gun – note the foghorn for gas alarm | Flickr

Photograph of a front-line trench. Two men can be seen sitting in the mud on the floor of the trench, cleaning the barrel of a Lewis gun. The circular magazine for the gun can be seen in the centre of the picture, just behind the foghorn. The top of the trench is well sand-bagged, but the sides are not revetted and there has clearly been collapse of the sides in the wet conditions. By 1917, every infantry section of between eight and ten men had a Lewis gunner and assistant. The gun, which could fire up to 500 rounds per minute, was of far greater tactical importance than the rifles of the other infantrymen.

About Fionnuala Barrett

I am a master's student of nineteenth-century English literature at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.
For the WW1C project I have been overseeing the @Arras95 live-tweeting project, as well as researching resources to add to the project library.